Latest / What the Flux / Tabcorp's big call | Harvey Norman faces class action | Instagram launches teen accounts | A special guest from moomoo

Transcript

Tabcorp's big call | Harvey Norman faces class action | Instagram launches teen accounts | A special guest from moomoo · What the Flux

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: This is what the flucks. I'm justin and.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: I'm harsh deep and it's Friday, the twentieth of September.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: We spoke about AI jobs taking over with Combank, and
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: now AI is added again. Get this. KPMG Australia aims
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: have halt its consulting work done by lower cost workers
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: and robots by twenty twenty six. That's nearly two thousand
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: jobs they expect to go to the bots.
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: Big claims from KPMG.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Three bottastic stories today.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: Let's get into it for our first.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: Australian CEOs are keen to pull the plug on work
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: from home and bring staff back into the office five
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: days a week. According to a new report from KPMG.
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: Nearly eighteen months since the pandemic officially ended, and companies
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: are still working from home. Tell me more about.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: This, so cheet. We all remember that fateful week in
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: March twenty twenty when the pandemic officially hit Australia.
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: Hard, Most, if not all, white collar workforce companies sent
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: their employees home to work, and.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: Since then working from home has become common practice so
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: pretty much every single corporate.
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: But a new survey by KPMG has revealed that seventy
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: five percent of Australian CEOs want their staff back in
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: the office for at least three days.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: A week, and she it seems like their biggest gripe
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: is with productivity when staff work from home.
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so sixty four percent of CEOs believe that productivity
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: has taken a hit since everyone started working from home, washing.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: Walking their dogs, playing Xbox. In fact, tab Corp has
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: just ordered staff to return to the office five days
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: a week.
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: And Amazon in the US has also done the same.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: Wow, five whole days of commuting small talk by the
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: water cooler and try to work out how to dress
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: again for work.
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: Talk about a corporate showdown.
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: So what is the key learning here?
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: The future of work is flexible, but the definition of
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: flexible is still up for debate.
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: She the pandemic accelerated a trend that was already in motion,
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: more flexible work arrangements.
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: And now that CEOs are pushing for a return to
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: the office, employees may have to push back even harder
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: to protect their flexible work arrangements.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: But he's a thing. Ceo are looking to reward office
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: based employees with pay rises and promotions. According to the
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: KPMG report and.
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: Forty two percent of CEOs are prepared to say see
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: your leader to staff who refuse to return to the office.
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: So it's going to be an interesting few years as
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: CEOs try to push staff back into the office.
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: Which for many people now feels like a chore rather
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: than obligation of your employment.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: Achi. Before we jump into our second story, we're very
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: excited to have Michael McCarthy from Moving Australia give us
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: a bit of a market overview and share some of
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: the key updates from the market this week. Michael, welcome
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: to the show.
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: Thanks Justin. It's great to be here.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: It has been a big week in markets in Australia
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: around the world. Would love to get a bit of
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: an overview from you as to what some of the
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: things our listeners should be looking at.
• 2:44
  Speaker 4: Big news this week, of course, is that interstrate decisions
• 2:47
  Speaker 4: from the US Federal Reserve and it was unveiled. We
• 2:50
  Speaker 4: now know they've cut rates by half a percent fifty
• 2:53
  Speaker 4: basis points. Now, that's as big as anyone was expecting,
• 2:56
  Speaker 4: and so we were looking for a big reaction in
• 2:58
  Speaker 4: the markets because of that.
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: But the problem is it looks like everybody who wanted
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: to buy has already bought, and the immediate reaction I
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: think for a lot of investors was very disappointing. We
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: actually saw the US markets come off after the announcement
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: was made, and we saw a very slow start for
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: Asia specific trading after the decision, so possibly not what
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: a lot of people were expecting. One of the few
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: big beneficiaries was gold it hit another record high, but
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: so far the Australian share market, the US market, a
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: lot of those other ones have been trading near their
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: all time highs have failed to go on with it.
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: And Michael, do you reckon this decision is going to
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: put some pressure on the RBA?
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: Now, Well, that's the number one question I think vests
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: and traders, because we've got a case now looking at
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: the data that they could go in different directions. Now
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: that's a big change. For fifteen years since the GFC
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: in two thousand and eight, we've seen central backs all
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: around the globe singing from the same song sheet. Now
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: it looks like the numbers are showing they might go
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: in different directions. So we could see the situation where
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: save Australia and Japan are tightening by this central banks
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: while the US drops its rates, and that would be
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: the first time for a lot of investors they've seen
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: anything like that.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: For our second story, Harvey Norman has been hit with
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: a class action over allegedly selling worthless extended warranties to customers.
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: Oh yakes, that upbeat Harvey Norman jingle may become a
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: bit more somber. So what's happened here? Does?
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: Well?
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: I shot? We all know Harvey Norman as the white
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: goods and home retailer that started up back in nineteen
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: eighty two.
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: Since that, they've become a go to for electronics and
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: furniture in Australia, with one hundred and ninety two stores
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: across the country and.
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: Almost eighty other stores across seven other countries.
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: But now a class action has been brought against Harvey Norman,
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: Domain and Joyce Maine.
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah. The lawsuit alleges that Harvey Norman sold extended warranties
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: to tens of thousands of customers over the past six years.
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: These warranties cost anywhere between ten percent to forty percent
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: of the product.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: Price, and Harvey Norman has made hundreds of millions of
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: dollars off these extended warranties.
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: Okay, so what's the issue here, Well.
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: The class action is alleging that the extended warranties actually
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: didn't provide any value to customers, and they claim this
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: is misleading and deceptive conduct because there isn't really an
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: extension on their warranty.
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: So what's the key learning here?
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: Misleading conduct occurs when a company gives consumers false impressions
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: about their products or services.
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: And Australian consumer law aims to protect all the consumers
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: from this type of behavior.
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: You SEEHG. Having Norman's been selling a warranty that offers
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: the same protection already provided by the law.
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: So they're alleging that customers are effectively paying for a
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: protection they already have and Half.
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: Norman are the only retailers to full foul of Australian
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: consumer law. Yeah.
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: Remember how the good guys were hit with a major
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: fine over their promotions offering store credit.
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: I do, and there was that little catch the consumers
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: needed to redeem the credit within seven to ten days
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: or it expired. Oh yeah, so HG. This is a
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: timely reminder for businesses of the importance of transparency and
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: definitely not over promising.
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: Especially when dealing with legally protected consumer rights.
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: For our third and final story, Instagram is introduced teen
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: accounts with restrictions in place to make the platform safer
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: for young people.
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: Sounds like the days of lying about your age to
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: make a Facebook account might be making a comeback. Or
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: what's the story here? Does?
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: Well, we know who Meta is. They're the owner of
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: Facebook and WhatsApp and Instagram and threads. They've got over
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: three and a half billion uses across their platform.
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: That's over seventy seven percent of Internet users who have
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: at least one Meta account, a lot of whom are
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: young people.
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: Now ac she Meda's been under the spotlight for a
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: little while now for how its platform impacts younger people.
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: You might have remembered just three years ago, leaked documents
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: showed that Meta knew that Instagram was harming the mental
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: health of teen girls.
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: Then last year, over thirty US state sued Meta for
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: allegedly exploiting young people with its marketing tactics.
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: And just recently, Australia announced that it's planning a social
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: media ban for teenagers.
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: And now HD Medics announced that Instagram uses under sixteen
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: will automatically have their accounts restricted.
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: That means accounts made private they can only be contacted
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: by friends, as.
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: Well as sensitive like violence or cosmetic surgeries.
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: They're also blocked, and this new step has forced Meta
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: to reckon with the ethical cost of its business.
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: So what is the key learning here?
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: Social media companies are caught in a social dilemma between
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: the growth of their platforms and the safety of their users.
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: You see, on the one hand, engagement is core to
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: how social media companies like Meta earn their revenue.
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: More eyeballs on the platform equals more ads, equals more revenue.
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: But on the other hand, social media companies are facing
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: more pressure than ever from regulators to protect their users.
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: Which is forcing them to make decisions that go entirely
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: against their business model.
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: And let me tell you one thing, it's hitting them
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: where it hurts, i e. Their core demographic. That's right.
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: Last year, Instagram made most of its AD revenue We're
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: talking four billion US dollars from users aged between fourteen
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: to seventeen.
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: And now they're restricting that exact demographic. But with so
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: much scrutiny on the harm these platforms are causing, they're
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: kind of left with no choice but to take the
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: route of less engagement is better than no engagement at all.
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: We loved having Michael McCarthy from Moon, Australia on the
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: pod today and before we left we asked him a
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: couple of cheeky questions about which stocks have been trading
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: highly on the movie platform across the NASDAG and the
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: AX over the past week.
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: BHP is the top of the pops for Australian stocks
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: on the list, although it only comes in at number eleven,
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: which is interesting. That's a big change in behavior. A
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: lot of a lot of investors start with Australian stocks
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: and spread out from there, and the fact that we're
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: seeing so many investors looking around at other stocks is
• 8:31
  Speaker 3: good news. Pal Andeer has been up there Ford Askeu.
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: Of course. One of the trading favorites Rivian Automotive. Now
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: we've talked about those less than exciting businesses. There's one
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: for you, auto parts, but a business that needs to
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: keep running whether there's a recession or whether things are
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: going well, and it looks like investors have focused on those.
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: And another one is a long term favorite. It's dropped
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: right down the list number eighteen today. But Drone Shield
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: it's been a favored trading stock, and of course it's
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: one of the top perform films on the AIX this year.
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: It still remains in favor and there's still enough activity
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: to keep ticking over even though the themes in the
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: market seem to have moved away.
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: A little box out. If you want to kick off
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: the weekend on a high with fifty bucks in your
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: front left pocket, there is only one simple way. It's
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: being the fastest and the smartest in our weekly quiz
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: Quick sticks to make sure to download the Flux app
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: and have your notifications turned on.
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: Thanks for listening and we'll see you on Monday.